On the Eve of Thanksgiving Day we search the best turkey recipe. Though it is not our traditional holiday I tried to cook the turkey for my family. No victims occurred 🙂. The result of these cooking efforts convince me this is no-fail roast turkey recipe. It will spare you time because you do not need to brine and baste the turkey, and there are just a few simple steps to cook a roasted turkey.
The wrong thing is that people buy a turkey the day before Thanksgiving. A turkey needs to take time to defrost in the fridge, and it takes about 24 hours per five pounds of poultry to thaw properly. It would be better to buy your Thanksgiving turkey at least a week before your start cooking. Usually, for one person will be enough a pound and a half of poultry. Any of your guests will be satisfied
Ingredients
- Turkey – 13 1 pounds
- Salt and pepper to your taste.
- Onion – 1 pc.
- Garlic – 1 pc.
- Carrots – 3 medium size
- Fennel bulb – 3 pcs.
- Lemon – 1 pc.
- Fresh aromatic herbs of rosemary and thyme – a few fresh sprigs
- Batter– 3/4 cup.
How to cook Thanksgiving day turkey
1. Get rid of the packet of giblets you will most often find inside the turkey. If there’s any excess skin around the neck, cut that off.
2. When the turkey is thawed, place it on a big dish at room temperature for an hour.
3. Slice up one onion and one lemon into slices.
4. Season the turkey with salt and pepper, then place the onion and lemon slices inside the cavity. You can set the remaining onion on a roasting tray.
5. Place a few sprigs of fresh aromatic herbs inside the turkey, like rosemary, sage, and thyme. The herbs, along with the onion and lemon, give the thanksgiving turkey the best flavor and moisture. For this recipe there is no stuffing. Instead of it you can cook garnish separately.
6. Chop rosemary and thyme (about 1 tablespoon and add that to 3/4 cup of softened room temperature butter and add salt and pepper. Use a fork to mash the ingredients when all of them are in your mixing bowl. Taste it to make sure it is well combined.
7. Peel and cut 6-7 garlic cloves. Add them inside the turkey,
8. Take a few paper towels and carefully dry the turkey. The key to beautifully roasted turkey for Thanksgiving is ensuring it is completely dry before putting the herb mix with butter inside it.
9. To add the herb mix with butter you will have to loosen the turkey’s skin by gently sliding your fingers under it. Take about 1/3 of the herb butter from the bowl and rub it under the skin of the turkey breast. This helps to keep the breast meat, which is naturally drier to stay juicy. So now you can see why we do not have to baste the turkey while it’s cooking.
9. Rub the remaining butter mixture on the wings, legs and thighs.
10 Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep it at 325 the entire time. You may not need a rack inside your roasting pan. Peel half an onion, chop three carrots and fennel bulbs. These vegetables will give additional flavor to the meat. Just place your turkey for thanksgiving day on top of roughly chopped vegetables or put a rack on vegetables and then place a turkey on it.
11. Roast the turkey for about 15 minutes per pound. For the size of this turkey the time is about 3 hours.
12. Take the turkey from the oven and leave for half an hour to cool down.
Happy Thanksgiving Day!
